![\"SISI\"](\"\/pardeeschool\/files\/2017\/04\/SISI.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nGregory Aftandilian,<\/a> Lecturer at the <\/span>Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University,<\/a>\u00a0published a recent Op-Ed on the developing relationship between\u00a0<\/span>United States President Donald Trump and\u00a0Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.<\/span><\/p>\n Aftandilian’s Op-Ed, entitled “The Mood in Washington About Sisi is Mixed,<\/a>” was published on April 9, 2017 in\u00a0The Arab Weekly<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n From the text of the article:<\/p>\n After being denied an official Washington visit by former president Barack Obama, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi received the respect he likely believes he deserves from meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House.<\/p>\n Although Obama never labelled Sisi\u2019s 2013 overthrow of former president Muhammad Morsi a coup, which would have legally required him to cut off US aid, he saw Sisi\u2019s policies as unnecessarily harsh.<\/p>\n Bilateral relations improved somewhat after Obama restored full military aid to Egypt in March 2015, after having suspended much of it in October 2013, but he and Sisi never had a warm relationship.<\/p>\n Not so it seems with Trump. Following their meeting at the UN General Assembly last Septem\u00adber, Trump and Sisi seem to have developed a close bond. Trump called Sisi a \u201cfantastic guy\u201d and the Egyptian president was the first foreign leader to congratulate Trump after his victory in Novem\u00adber.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Aftandilian also recently participated in a conference at the University of Southern California on April 9-10, 2017 entitled “End of Transition: Armenia 25 Years On, Now What?” where he delivered the paper, “The Diminishing Importance of of Armenia in U.S. Foreign Policy”.<\/p>\n\n